October 25, 2012

The Beatles' Apple Corps Logo is now a Registered TM of Apple

On 5 February 2007, Apple Inc. and Apple Corps announced a settlement of their trademark dispute under which Apple Inc. would own all of the trademarks related to "Apple" and would license certain of those trademarks back to Apple Corps for their continued use. The settlement ended the ongoing trademark lawsuit between the companies, with each party bearing its own legal costs, and Apple Inc. would continue using its name and logos on iTunes. The settlement included terms that were confidential, although newspaper accounts at the time stated that Apple Computer was buying out Apple Corps' trademark rights for a total of $500 million U.S. The Canadian IP Office disclosed that the famed Beatles recording label logo is now a registered trademark of Apple Inc.

Apple Inc. now owns the Famed Apple Corps Logo

Commenting on the settlement in 2007, the late Steve Jobs stated that "We love the Beatles, and it has been painful being at odds with them over these trademarks. It feels great to resolve this in a positive manner, and in a way that should remove the potential of further disagreements in the future."

The Canadian database records show that there was unsuccessful opposition to Apple owing the logo by a company named Apple Box Productions Sub Inc.. The Canadian IP Office database shows that Apple Inc. has since been granted the registered trademark. As we reported, Apple originally filed for the famed Apple Corps logo trademark in Europe in March 2011.

This is the end of a "Long and Winding Road" or should I say Long and Winding Legal Road for the Beatles Apple Corps logo.

This cool photo was posted today by Cult of Mac who is covering our report

In Other Apple IP News

In other Apple IP news out of Canada, we see that Apple's "Genius" trademark has now been approved and registered as of October 22, while Apple has officially abandoned their pursuit of the "iPodcast" trademark which isn't to be confused with their registered trademark for "Podcast."

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There's a lot of history of conflict over the Apple name. The Beatles originally sued the electronics firm after George Harrison saw an ad for Apple Computers. An agreement was reached at that time, allowing the electronics company to use the name Apple as long as they never made music products. That's why one of the beep sounds is named "sosumi," meaning "so sue me."
Apple Computer Inc., now Apple Inc., eventually did go into music products, and more lawsuits ensued. Its been a fascinating story. As a huge fan of both Apples, though, it surprises me that Apple Inc. ended up owning the granny smith.

No, Apple won their case against the Beatles who were trying to stop Apple Inc. from using their Apple logo associated with iTunes. Winning the Apple Corps logo was a side benefit and the money was a good faith gesture to gain the Beatles music on iTunes.